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Welcome to Kings of War Armada Water Bases tutorial. Here I will take you on a Step-by-step trip through the process of creating and painting bases as can be found in the Gallery: Armada Basileans from Mantic Games Kings of War Armada.
Before we start, some notes:
I plan to go all-in with Mantic’s KoW: Armada. This means a lot of ships from across numerous fleets. To keep my bases easy to paint and visually coherent I decided to limit myself to some water effects and simple tricks. Instead of going through a lot of effort, trying to build multiple layers of transparent water, I switched out standard MDF bases for clear acrylics.
That doesn’t mean the method wouldn’t work with MDF’s. If you’d rather stick with Mantic’s bases – undercoat them white, then paint sides with some dark blue and you’d be ready to go. That being said, this method was developed with clear acrylic bases in mind so please take that into account when trying different approaches.
Without further ado, let’s get these bases wet!
I used:
Step one:
I used a large brush to apply AK Interactive Diorama Series: Pacific Blue Water Gel onto entire surface of the base. I then stippled a bit to create an uneven surface. Lastly I used a finger to remove the excess gel from the sides of the base.
Step two:
I repeated first step two more times, leaving the paint to dry between each repeat. This darkened the base significantly and resulten in a nice solid layer with a lot more detail on top of the first one.
Step three:
Once I was done painting ships I applied AK Interactive Pacific Blue Gel at the edges of each ship’s underside. I then followed with Super Glue through the middle and glued the ship on top of a base. Excess gel was queezed out and filled any holes between the ship and the base.
Step four:
I then applied more Pacific Blue Gel around the ship. It was a bit messy so I used a clean flat brush to move any excess gel from the ship’s sides and onto the base.
Step five:
Some time later I applied AK Interactive clear Water Gel effects around the ship. I used a small brush and slowly built the mass of splashing water at the front and on the sides of the ship. This time I didn’t care about messing up the hull.
Step six:
Next I applied AK Interactive Water Foam. Using a small brush I applied small dots of the effect on top of previous layer. This one is very white so I tried to avoid applying to much. Mistakes were removed with a clean flat brush – pushed into more tight lines, where necessary.
Step seven:
Lastly I mixed white paint, water and AK Interactive clear Water Gel effect and stippled a bit behind and around the ship to create a nice effect of dissolving water foam.
Task complete! The fleet is now sailing into the unknown. I hope you like this tutorial. For more pictures of finished fleet visit Gallery: Armada Basileans
Be sure to let me know your thoughts on the method either in the comments below or at my facebook profile.
Please link this tutorial to anyone who likes to learn new hobby tricks.
Lastly I also invite you to follow me at Instagram, where I drop some nice pictures from time to time.
All speed ahead and see you in the next article!
Welcome to Kings of War Armada Islands tutorial. Here I will take you on a Step-by-step trip through the process of creating and painting DiY islands scenery for Mantic Games Kings of War Armada as presented in the picture below.
Before we start, some notes:
Playing a friendly game on a set of fully painted and modeled scenery is always a great experience. In my opinion there’s nothing better than to let yourself go “full immersion mode” during a game of plastic dudesmen, or in this case – resin boats. That’s why I decided to create a set of appropriate scenery and use this opportunity to let you in on some of my hobby secrets.
When planning the set and how to make it my priorities were ease of build (and copy), durability, stability and obviously cool looks! Thus choice of material being mostly PCV and stones. PCV sheets are easy to work with, stay flat and are very glue friendly, whereas stones provide cheap and easy to use terrain features that will add weight and improve stability of the scenery pieces. With that in mind – let’s begin!
Step one: Basic shapes
I started by cutting a island’s base out of 1mm thick PCV sheet with a pair of scissors. I then smoothed the edges with a piece of sandpaper.
Next, using a hobby knife, I cut the island itself. This time I used 3mm thick PCV and cut the edges at a 30-45* angle, leaving approximately 1,5cm of the base all around the island. Once done I glued both pieces together, using Army Painter’s Super Glue.
Step two: Rocky features
I then applied PVA glue to some areas on the island, followed by AP’s Super Glue and finally Rocks – repositioned to look interesting. I also added some bitz, but I leave it up to you to decide if you want to do the same.
Step three: Wooden piers
Next I decided to add a bit of character with an old, damaged wooden pier jutting into the sea. I used a piece of MDF cut into a thin strip as a base for the pier, but you can really use anything – including 1mm thick PCV. Just cut a strip, glued tiny bit underneath, then glued it on top of the island and it’s base. Finally marked tiny holes along the sides of the pier and ‘superglued’ toothpicks in place, just to cut them off close to the pier’s level. Done.
Step four: Palm trees
At that point I didn’t wanted to waste good toothpicks and here’s where palm trees idea originates from. I gently squeezed the blunt tip of a toothpick with cutters and moved it around. I made this every two or so mm on the length of the toothpick. I then cut a piece off and gently bent it. With palm trees trunks ready to be added on top to the island, I just pushed a sharp tool into the PCV to create tiny holes and glued the trunks into it.
Step five: Textures
Final modelling step was to apply textures. First I filled gaps and surrounding areas between stones with AK Interactive Concrete from diorama series. I then covered rest of the island with Vallejo Desert Sand texture.
Sandy beaches, rocky coast and vibrant blue water around. With such theme in mind I started the paint job.
Basics:
First step was to undercoat the islands black and then airbrush white all over it to create a nice base for both water and sand colors.
Sand:
Sand was painted using airbrushed Vallejo Desert Sand, followed by Light Brown and finally drybrushed with Ice Yellow.
Rocks:
Rocks followed with a similarly easy recipe being airbrushed Vallejo Dark Panzer Grey, Cold Grey, Pale Grey Blue and drybrushed Ghost Grey.
Water:
Here’s the tricky one. I decided to go hard with stencil airbrushed Vallejo Light Sea Blue, Magic Blue and spots of airbrushed Army Painted Blue Ink. I then sealed it with airbrushed Gloss Varnish.
I added some final touches by manually applied AK Interactive effects creating waves and water foam. To add a nice color diversity on top of the island I also applied Gamers Grass Dry Green and Swamp tufts. Pal trees got finished with Shady Green tufts from Paint Forge.
First two islands discovered, I’m ready to head up for the unknown waters. More scenery to come, following the same template. If you stick a while at my blog you’re bound to see more islands and other scenery types, including deadly rocks and shipwrecks. Be sure to visit Scarhandpainting next time you hit a port! Ahoy!
AK – Interactive – a Spanish company behind a well established series of products for modelers. They managed to become one of the most recognized brands in the modeling world with continuously evolving range of paints, brushes, weathering products and effects. I have been a fan of their products for years now. Recently I decided to take another step and expand a range of texture paints at my disposal. Knowing the quality of AK’s products and lured by sweet pricing I went berserk and got a lot of Diorama Series textures.
Now I’m here to share my impressions.
Usually I do the entire Quality, Visuals, Functionality thing. This time though I decided to take a different approach and just jump right into testing the actual products, with pictures taken at every step. Consider this to be a Review/Tutorial hybrid. I will share my thoughts in the summary, so no worries 😉
Very happy with this one. Not too grainy. Perfect coloration. Two steps process with a final touch of white markings airbrushed through a stencil. End result – very satisfactory.
Say goodbye to sand on PVA glue! This puppy is now my favorite two-steps basing for fantasy miniatures!
Would have never expected to go with such a color, but seeing the end result I’m getting strong Star Wars The Last Jedi / Mad Max Salt Planes vibes… many possibilities!
No need to explain – just look at this! Two steps and your miniature is based on a desert!
This one didn’t hit the mark for me. I expected a more paste-like, smooth surface. More of a Dark & Dry Crackle end result (below). Either way the product itself is solid, just not what I expected, thus once dried, I didn’t follow up on it. I plan to give it another go on my next project so who knows…
This one required a third step to bring out the cracks as they are super tiny. The end result is very interesting. I’m sure that a mix with Dark Earth will bring magnificent results. Right now it looks like a trampled ground, or a road. Will definitely use.
Well… not what I’ve expected. Tried few times, taking different routes. End result is pretty disappointing. So much so that I just skipped further work with this.
Now that’s “crackled”! Three steps and it looks great! I bet it would look even better with Terrain Dry Ground. Count me in babe!
Working with these products was very comfortable. These are definitely high quality and very user friendly. I used a large brush to apply all the effects and simply cannot stress enough how great and easy it was! Growing up on Games Workshop’s products, moving onto these I felt like if I switched a worn out car for a new one, straight out of the factory! No more “fishing” for dry’ish conglomerates of grains to try and smear them onto a base. Nothing of the sort! Smooth. Great to use. Very easy. Zero stress. Just awesome!
Now Wet Crackle Effect turned out to be a disappointment, but all the rest behaved as they should and brought awesome results. The rest is so good that I’m willing to give Wet Crackle a benefit of a doubt and assume I’ve used it incorrectly. Will go back to it at some point and try to bring forth it’s full potential.
Other than that – these are pure gold! I love them. I will be working with them from now on and definitely prefer them over other products that I used until now.
Price factor is very important, especially with paints. You know how it is – you spill half of it, then use up like a one third and the rest dries out 😛 Just kidding, still I’m sure we can all agree that for many hobbyists pricing matters a lot. Just take a look at this:
What else is there to add? 🙂
Except for the Wet Crackle, the AK – Interactive’s Terrains series is a solid 10/10. On top of being extremely easy to use and very efficient, the effects look great. Full recommendation on my end.
I hope you enjoyed this little Review/Tutorial. Share your thoughts in the comments below. Cheers!
You can get these straight from AK’s web store, or if you happen to live in Poland, go to a well equipped Vanaheim online store.
Welcome to Painting Ghosts tutorial. Here I will present to you a Step-by-step of fast and easy painting Ghosts process.
Before we start, some notes:
Step one: Undercoat
I started with an airbrushed layer of Black.
Step two: Vallejo Turquoise, airbrushed
I airbrushed thinned Vallejo Turquoise all over the miniatures.
Insert: Additional detail
At that point I have painted all the none-ghost detail, following these two recipes: Painting Metal , Painting Bases. This tutorial is about painting ghostly elements so I leave this step to you. I have painted these elements now to build up ghostly light on top of them alongside layers to come next.
Step three: Vallejo Duck Egg Green, airbrushed
Next I airbrushed Vallejo Duck Egg Green air over ghostly elements, focusing on the most exposed areas. I have thinned this paint just a bit to mitigate speckling.
Step four: Vallejo Light Livery Green, airbrushed
I then airbrushed Vallejo Light Livery Green air over previous layer.
Step four: Vallejo Off White, highlights
I manually painted edge highlights with Vallejo Off White.
Step five: Vallejo Light Livery Green, juice up
I manually blended highly thinned Vallejo Light Livery Green air on top of previous highlights.
Step six: Vallejo Off White, highlights
I manually painted edge highlights with Vallejo Off White, but this time contained to dots and points of focus.
Step seven: Vallejo Light Livery Green, blend
I airbrushed thinned Vallejo Light Livery Green air all over the miniatures, after which I sealed it with Vallejo Polyurethane Matt Varnish and painted the base’s edge black, as it should be. Added few Birch Tree seeds as a final touch.
Note from the author: I hope you enjoyed this article. Be sure to let me know what you think in the comments or at my facebook. If you ever use the tutorial – please tag me at facebook or send pics to my e-mail, so I can enjoy your work 😉
Welcome to Rocky Bases tutorial. Here I will take you on a Step-by-step trip through the process of creating and painting Rocky Bases as presented in the picture below. This adventure is possible thanks to generosity of Gamers Grass and their easy to use, fantastic products.
Before we start, some notes:
As mentioned in previous Tutorial, when making bases, I usually aim for fast, simple, yet effective solutions. It is important to pick a basing method that is easy to copy onto large quantities of miniatures or coming back to a project. This is why I consider Gamers Grass Basing Bits a perfect solution. Nicely textured, ready to use straight out of the box – glue them on, add some texture around – you’re ready to paint. All that being said – for this particular base type I choose Gamers Grass “Rocks” basing bits.
Step one: Applying basing bits
I started by applying glue onto the base and gluing few basing bits on top.
Step two: Applying texture
I then applied texture with Games Workshop Stirland Mud.
At this point entire “Modelling” part is done. If it seem fast it’s because it really is. Just two steps and you’re ready to paint!
I choose to paint these Rocky bases in a classic Bron plus Grey style. Assuming these are meant to be used for a large collection, I want to keep things simple. Would be perfect to close in about three layers per color, with a single type of tufts on top. Just your everyday nice looking, coherent bases. Here’s how I went about it…
Step two: Undercoat
I applied a black undercoat.
Step two: Main color
I then painted entire base with Vallejo Charred Brown. Once dry I drybrushed Games Workshop Calthan Brown on top.
Step two: Secondary color
For rocks I went with Vallejo Panzer Dark Grey, followed by a drybrush of Games Workshop Fortress Grey.
Step tree: Highlights
Final highlight was done with a drybrush of Games Workshop Karak Stone for brown and a drybrush of Vallejo Ghost Grey for rocks.
Step tree: Tufts
Finally I applied Gamers Grass Swamp Wild Tufts.
And with that the job was done! Fast and easy – as all bases should be. I hope this was a pleasant tutorial and that you saw how simple the process is. If you want to learn more about Gamers Grass products – here’s my review:
Welcome to Temple Bases tutorial. Here I will take you on a Step-by-step trip through the process of creating and painting Temple Bases as presented in the picture below. This adventure is possible thanks to generosity of Gamers Grass and their easy to use, fantastic products.
Before we start, some notes:
In my opinion base is supposed to complement a miniature, not steal the spotlight. For this reason, when making bases, I usually aim for fast, simple, yet effective solutions. Important thing to note when deciding on what to use for your bases is to pick a method that is easy to copy. This is why I consider Gamers Grass Basing Bits a perfect solution. Nicely textured, ready to use straight out of the box – glue them on, add some texture around – you’re ready to paint. All that being said – for this particular base type I choose Gamers Grass “Temple” basing bits.
Step one: Applying basing bits
I started by applying glue onto the base and gluing few basing bits on top.
Step two: Applying texture
I then applied texture with Games Workshop Stirland Mud.
At this point entire “Modelling” part is done. If it seem fast it’s because it really is. Just two steps and you’re ready to paint!
I choose to paint these Temple bases in a bit of a Desert’ish style. Let’s say these are meant to be used for a large army. I want to keep things simple, best if within three layers per color, crowned with a single type of tufts. Nothing fancy, just nice looking, coherent bases. Here’s how I went about it…
Step one: Undercoat
I applied a black undercoat. This is my usual start for everything 😛
Step two: Main color
I then airbrushed Vallejo Desert Yellow over entire base. Once dry I applied Vallejo European Dust Wash.
Step two: Secondary color
For ruins I choose Vallejo Cold Grey, followed by a wash of water thinned Vallejo Dark Panzer Grey.
Step tree: Highlights
I then highlighted both colors with a soft drybrush of Games Workshop Flayed One Flesh. I also applied some highlights with the same color on the edges of ruins – just a bit to make them pop.
Step tree: Tufts
Finally I applied Gamers Grass Burned Wild Tufts.
Job done! There’s some poetry in both starting and finishing a base using products from the same company 😛 Either way – I hope this was a pleasant tutorial and that you saw how simple the process is. If you want to learn more about Gamers Grass products – here’s my review:
Welcome to Painting Black Marbe tutorial. Here I will take you on a Step-by-step trip through the process of painting black marble.
Before we start, some notes:
Step one: Undercoat
I started with an airbrushed layer of White.
Step two: Base texture
For this step I used a Steel Wool stencil prepared in the previous Tutorial: Painting Marble. I simply took few pieces of steel wool, taped them together and used them as a stencil. I then airbrushed black paint through the stencil. Furthermore in some places I have removed black paint with a wet toothpick to create strong white lines.
Step three: Texture
Next I added a layer of texture by manually applied stains of Vallejo Pale Grey Wash. After waiting half a minute I removed the excess of the paint with a paper towel.
Step four: More texture
I then applied stains of Vallejo Air White, but this time removed the excess of the paint with slightly pressured water. You can simply airbrush water with around 0,5 bar pressure if you don’t have a sprinkler.
Step five: Sealing the colour
To seal the colour I applied an even, smooth layer of Army Painter Dark Tone Ink.
Step five: Gloss
Finally I applied two layers of airbrushed Gloss Varnish. This resulted in a nice polished glossy look but also added that 3d look to different layers.
Here’s how the finished base looks like.
This bonus method is much simpler and I think it had a lot of potential, still I stumbled upon it by accident just fed ways ago and hadn’t had time to test it thoroughly. Here’s basics:
Done! Seems mind blowing? Surely is. Have I done this right? Totally no 😛 White spots are too large, but as mentioned – there’s potential in the method and at some point I will find a way to make it work.
Note from the author: I hope you enjoyed this article. Be sure to let me know what you think in the comments or at my facebook. If you ever use the tutorial – please tag me at facebook or send pics through Line app to scarhandpainting, so I can enjoy your work 😉
Welcome to Painting Desert Bases tutorial. Here I will take you on a Step-by-step trip through the process of painting Desert Bases the same way as seen at: Gallery: Infinity USARF
Before we start, some notes:
Step one: Undercoat
I started with a lazy layer of Games Workshop Gorthor Brown. Any similar colour would do and the layer doesn’t need to be thorough.
Step two: Base texture
I applied a solid irregular layer of Games Workshop Agrellan Badlands with some points of Games Workshop Agrellan Earth on top.
Step three: Highlight
Next I drybrushed a layer of Games Workshop Karak Stone. Some pieces of cracked earth fell off, but that doesn’t matter in the long run.
Step four: Highlight
I drybrushed again, this time with Games Workshop Flayed One Flesh.
Step five: Tufts
I glued Paint Forge Steppe tufts on top of the bases, ensuring that any points where cracked earth fell off got covered.
Here’s how the finished base looks like. 
Welcome to Painting Marbe tutorial. Here I will take you on a Step-by-step trip through the process of painting marble the same way as seen at: Gallery: Horus Lupercal
Before we start, some notes:
Step one: Undercoat
I started with a solid layer of Vallejo German Red Brown. Any similar colour would do.
Step two: Base texture
For this step I used a life hack. I took few pieces of steel wool, taped them together and used them as a stencil. I then airbrushed pure white paint through the stencil and onto the bases.
Step three: Texture
Next I applied more layers of marble texture. This time I manually applied irregular stains of Army Painter Strong Tone Ink, waited half a minute then removed the paint with a paper towel. I then repeated the process once again applying and then removing excess Strong Tone Ink.
Step four: Sealing the colour
I then painted entire base with Army Painter Soft Tone Ink thinned with Games Workshop Lahmian Medium. I tried to keep the layer smooth and even.
Step five: Gloss
Finally I applied two layers of airbrushed Gloss Varnish. This resulted in a nice polished glossy look. Depending on the effect you aim for Gloss Varnish can be switched with either Satin ot pure Matt.
Here’s how the finished base looks like.
Note from the author: This tutorial is by far the most popular article on Scarhandpainting.com. It was first published in early 2016 and then refurbished exactly four years later. I hope you enjoy this new look and that the tutorial is now much easier to follow. Comments and Critique are welcome.
In this step-by-step tutorial I’m going to show you how to create Cityfight bases same way I did for Gallery: Tau Sa’Cea.
I used:
Step one: Special detail
Using a hobby knife I cut all the sticks, sprues, toothpicks, plasticard and tube into small pieces. I made sure to cut one side of each piece at an angle, to better position each piece on the base. I then glued random pieces on top of a base using Super glue.
Step two: Gravel
I applied PVA glue around previously glued pieces. I then applied Super glue on top of it and, before super glue hardened, covered entire thing with thick sand mixed with hobby gravel.
Step three: Texture
I then textured rest of the base using Games Workshop Astrogranite and Astrogranite Debris paints.
I started with Black Undercoat, then airbrushed a layer of Vallejo Cold Grey, followed short by Vallejo Stonewall Grey. I then washed everything black using Army Painter Dark Tone Ink and once it dried I drybrushed entire base with Games Workshop Administratum Grey.
For metal debris elements I used a mix of Games Workshop Warplock Bronze and Army Painter Gun Metal, followed by a highlight of Army Painter Shining Silver. I then washed all the pieces brown with Army Painter Strong Tone Ink.
For additional depth and effects I blended in some watered Vallejo Earth. Next I washed all metal debris with a mix of Vallejo Dark Red Ochre Pigment and Army Painter Soft Tone Ink. Lastly I drybrushed grey areas with Vallejo Ghost Grey.
Edges repainted black and job done!
You like this article? Don’t be a stranger! Let me know what you think in the comments below or at my Facebook profile! Cheers!
